Morse still strikes a note with music lovers
Signature composition of crime drama starring John Thaw voted the most popular on TV in new poll
The nation has voted the haunting theme to Inspector Morse the best of all time. In a poll of more than 20,000 Classic FM listeners and Radio Times readers, the programme’s theme tune, composed by Australian-born Barrington Pheloung, was voted the most popular on television – beating the likes of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Poldark and The Vicar of Dibley. Previous winners of the title include the British period drama Downton
Abbey and Sherlock.
‘It’s an honour to the memory of Barry to know that it has such a place in people’s hearts’
TWO decades may have passed since Wednesday nights were centred on discovering which crime the brilliant detective with a flair for classical music was about to solve.
Yet it appears that the nation continues to remain enthralled by Inspector Morse, having voted its haunting theme song the best made in history.
In a poll of more than 20,000 Classic FM listeners and Radio Times readers, the programme’s theme tune has been voted the most popular on television – beating the likes of Game of Thrones, Doctor Who, Poldark, Peaky Blinders, Thunderbirds and The Vicar of Dibley.
Previous winners of the title include the British period drama Downton Abbey and Sherlock, the crime series based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes detective stories.
The survey has been carried out twice before, in 2016 and 2019, both of which featured the Inspector Morse theme in the top five. However, this is the first time that the show – starring John Thaw, right, as the cultured uppermiddle-class detective with a penchant for opera, vintage cars and classical music – has won the coveted first place.
The classic crime drama being voted number one shows that “in times of uncertainty, people also want to keep to what’s familiar”, the pollsters said.
The dark, hypnotic theme tune of Inspector Morse, composed by the Australian-born Barrington Pheloung, known as “Barry”, also includes a motif in Morse code.
Kevin Whately, the actor who starred as Robert “Robbie” Lewis as the trusty detective sergeant sidekick to Inspector Morse, who featured originally in the detective novels by Colin Dexter, the British author, described the win as an “accolade”.
“It’s an honour to the memory of Barry to know that it has such a place in people’s hearts,” he added. “The theme was carefully produced to reflect Inspector Morse’s character, which was threaded throughout the music with an incredible attention to detail.”
Pheloung, who died of respiratory failure aged 65 in 2019, shared several interests with Colin Dexter’s detective in the ITV crime drama, including a love of opera and cryptic crosswords. He became known for hiding clues and red herrings in the score for the series, and occasionally revealing the killer’s identity in Morse code.
The title song also employs a Morse code theme for the letters that spell the name Morse, and there is a strong music theme throughout the programme, with Thaw’s portrayal of the worldweary, classical music-loving detective.
The award-winning series, which was on screen between 1987 and 2000, also contained plenty of Morse’s beloved opera and other classical favourites, and spawned several bestselling albums.
Responding to his theme song winning the award, Pheloung’s widow, Heather, said that he would have been “overjoyed and honoured that the Inspector Morse theme has been chosen as the UK’S number one favourite TV theme of all time”. The music for the Inspector Morse spin-off Lewis, also composed by Pheloung, came 20th.